Sacrificing the Sacred. The Demolition of Religious Complexes in the Sant’Eulalia District for the Construction of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo (1868–1888)

Flaminia Ferlito, M.A.

This project investigates one of the most dramatic transformations in nineteenth-century Palermo: the demolition of the Sant’Eulalia district to build the Teatro Massimo, Italy’s grandest opera house and a symbol of post-Unification modernity. Between 1868 and 1888, four religious complexes -together with their artworks, convents, and centuries of devotion - were erased from the city’s heart. What seemed to vanish, however, did not disappear entirely. Unexplored archival sources reveal that many of the artworks once housed in these sacred spaces were dispersed, relocated, and, in some cases, preserved up to the present day. By reconstructing the vanished churches and tracing the trajectories of their treasures, this project shifts the focus from the celebrated monument to the forgotten landscape it replaced. It reveals the Teatro Massimo not only as a civic icon, but also as the product of a violent act of cultural erasure, named by the anticlerical policy promoted by the unified Kingdom of Italy.

This research is being conducted as part of the program "Viaggio a Palermo", a collaboration between the BHMPI and the Fondazione Palazzo Butera.